Totally New York

After living in New York for a little over three years I finally feel like I am getting the hang of the place. I’m not talking about geographically. It will take a lot longer to feel like I know my way around the city. But psychologically, I feel as though I can finally recognize certain facets of New York life that are distinctly New York. Operation Lucky Bag is just such a trait.

Operation Lucky Bag is an NYPD sting operation in which New York’s Finest leave unattended packages on the subway and then nab people for carrying them away.

The very idea that a police department could leave unattended bags on a subway that is constantly reminding passengers to look out for suspicious packages beggars belief. So does the idea that the police are, in effect, targeting people who steal unattended packages rather than criminals like the armed robber who struck at our local dry cleaners a few weeks ago.

Lastly, you also have to wonder how the police can prove that the person picking up the package was not going to hand it in later anyway. NY1 has an interview with a man who picked up a ‘lucky bag’ as a train was entering a station, and when he dashed for the doors—before he had thought what to do with the bag—undercover cops arrested him for petty larceny.

Back in July, Gothamist linked to a story in the Downtown Express of a woman who picked up one of the bags with the intention of looking later to see if there was a receipt with an address where she could return the goods, only to be nabbed by the cops.

According to NY1, a Brooklyn judge threw out one Operation Lucky Bag arrest because:

the city’s personal property law gives people ten-days to turn in found property worth more than $20.

All in all, a complete waste of time and money. But also, totally New York.